Account in Suspense- Competing Title

Ownership and Title
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I received a phone call then an email from an attorney stating:

“I wanted to contact you regarding your interest in Block 35, Lot 8, in LaSalle County. There is a competing interest in the minerals (the Kerr family) and there are funds in suspense because of it. The Kerr’s want to see if you/your family would like to negotiate in order to clear the title and have the funds released. Who did you inherit the interest from?”

From this I discovered Callon had purchased the lease that I was approached for by a Land man in 2017 and was surprised to find out my Grandfather purchased land in La Salle in 1947

This is the email I received back in 2017 about my Grandfather. I was skeptical at first but verified that it was on file at the county records,

  • The 1947 Right of Way Deed where Esiquio Palacios conveyed the North 1/2 of Lots 8 & 9 in Block 35 of the Gardendale Townsite to the State of Texas for the construction of Interstate 35. Please note in the second paragraph of page 2, where Mr. Palacios reserved all oil and gas. This reservation is what allows Mr. Palacios’s heirs to lease for oil and gas exploration.

  • An Oil and Gas Lease with Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. covering the subject property with a term of 3 years and a royalty of 25%.

  • An Order For Payment stating that within 15 days of receiving your lease, Carrizo will issue payment of $500 (lease bonus) for the lease.

I then negotiated Lease for $750 since it was only two blocks after talking with my attorney at the time.

Recently from an attorney and have no idea what to make of it or what to do.I called an oil and land attorney in Texas but their response was the land was too small to represent,

The Right of way Deed shows my grandfather purchased the land January 11th 1947 and it was recorder March 6th 1957.

Any Guidance?

2

I would keep contacting attys.

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Jessica Ramarez an attorneys wife I believe that contacted me just recently got back to me and said:

"I wanted to contact you regarding your interest in Block 35, Lot 8, in LaSalle County. There is a competing interest in the minerals (the Kerr family) and there are funds in suspense because of it. The Kerr’s want to see if you/your family would like to negotiate in order to clear the title and have the funds released. Who did you inherit the interest from?

Below is the chain of title to the Kerr Heirs:

· Willis Johnson, et ux and Oliver Johnson, et ux conveyed 16,130 acres, being Gardendale Colony and Townsite to SP Brundage in Warranty Deed with Vendor’s Lien Vol. R, Pg. 559 on April 16, 1907.

· In October of 1908, Brundage conveyed ½ interest in the Gardendale Colony and Townsite to Harry Hurst (WD U/194) and Hurst assumed ½ of the original vendor’s lien. Hurst and Brundage began selling additional property out of Gardendale.

· In a Judgment dated November 26, 1913, (Vol. L-1, Pg. 284), the LaSalle Co. Dist. Court awarded to J.L. Kerr all right title and interest, (including all notes, contracts, and obligations) concerning the lands owned by Hurst and Brundage in Gardendale Colony and Townsite, being approximately 16,137 acres.

· In April of 1925, J.L. Kerr conveyed to his wife, Bessie Kerr, all of his interest in Gardendale Colony and Townsite.

So my new question is… Should I continue to contact attorneys? They are all saying my land is too small to make it worth their time. I don’t know if I should negotiate or even how to or if it would be a bad decision. I would not know even where to begin to establish chain of title. I just have the online title deed from my grandfather. How do I establish chain of title? I think emphasis on think this is what I need to do but honestly no nothing about this or where to begin.

4

Is this what they call a “Trespass to Try Title” or something like that?

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I honestly don’t know. I literally know nothing about oil and lands. I live in Iowa and apparently my grandfather left land and my father has passed as well. I looked up online “Trespass to try title.” to see what you meant. That sounds like it may be the case but I am absolutely lost and don’t know understand any of this. I am guessing I may have to prove my grandfather purchased this land or I can just negotiate to release the funds to avoid litigation from the Kern’s. I didn’t even know my grandfather purchased the land until a Land-Man contacted me and even then I thought it was a scam. I looked up LaSalle county records found the attached in the links previously. Any Guidance is appreciated.

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I looked into trespass to Title and this can;t be it because it says

To establish a proof of claim for trespass to try title, the claimant must prove one of the following:

  1. Title from a common source
  2. A regular chain of conveyances from the sovereign
  3. Adverse possession
  4. Prior possession that has not been abandoned

A trespass to try title action is the method for determining title to lands, tenements or other real property. It is the exclusive remedy by which to resolve competing claims to property. Any suit involving a dispute over the title to land is an action in trespass to try title, whatever its form and regardless of whether legal or equitable relief is sought.

To establish entitlement to relief, a party has to prove that he or she actually and exclusively possessed the real property, as opposed to merely constructively possessing it. A plaintiff must show an initial actual possession of the real property. The Weaver Law Firm can help with that.

A plaintiff in a trespass to try title action must prove initial actual possession to recover based on “prior possession.” This applies even against a trespasser. Case law shows that evidence of constructive possession by deed and payment of taxes on the land did not prove actual possession

So I am back to square one. My grandfather purchased land in 1947. The Kern family is shows they have a chain of title until 1927 for 1 of my grandfathers blocks. He only purchased two blocks. I have no idea if I should just negotiate in order to clear the title or do something else? Any recommendations on attorneys?

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my situation was where current surface owner was in effect claiming adverse possession on tract aquired via quit claim deeds. With that they claimed prior reservations of minerals were invalid because of the fact that conveyance was with quit claim and thus was conveyed to the extent the conveyor had rights but they claimed that party had no rights …

The lawsuit was filed by public notice in the paper of record “to any party claiming a right” in a long list of tracts.

I was forced to defend title and lost some tracts. But did retain others. Be careful and know whatyou have.

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You have to research the title backwards from your grandfather through his predecessors. Find the deed into your grandfather from Z. Then you have to find the deed into Z from Y. Then the deed into Y from X. Follow backwards to the sovereignty. There are several questions. Such as did Johnsons deed some tract to someone else before Brundage. Or did Brundage deed a tract out before assigning any interest to Hurt? Did Brundage and Hurt deed out any tracts before the foreclosure? Did the Kerrs deed out any tracts over the years? The question is to find the trail of owners through whom the title passed to your grandfather. There are various fee services which will enable you to search the deed records or you can hire a landman to do this for you. To do on-line, you will need to find a service which has the La Salle County deeds back to 1907.

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Thank you I will look into this. A land man from Carrizo originally contacted me to lease the land and provided me the Right of Way Deed that shows it was recorded 03/06/1957.

I am wondering if it I just better for me to negotiate the release of funds or pay to research the title and then what to do from there. It is only 1 lot in a block of of land.

Apparently, according to the Right of Way Deed my grandfather purchased Lot 8 and 9 of Block 35 and The Kerr family wants to reach an agreement so everyone can get paid on the interest and clear ownership as we both have competing interests of Block 35, Lot 8, Gardendale Townsite and because of that nobody is getting paid.

Is it wise to negotiate negotiate in order to clear the title and have the funds released or should I go a different route? And if I should research the title backwards and pay money how would this benefit me?

I have been told don’t sell my land by some people. I don’t even know what negotiate to release the funds actually means or if I should get an attorney to do it. Callon said there is only $100 in suspense at the moment. I appreciate any input.

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Please send me a copy of the Right-of-way Deed you referred to recorded 03/06/1957 so I can review with my cousin, Ted Kerr. Unfortunately, the on-line documents for LaSalle county only go back to late 1956 so, it would be helpful if you could copy me with any other reference material the landman may have provided. I am a retired attorney and can do some checking on my end. At least its free! If you have any questions, let me know.

Morris M. Reese, Jr.

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Reese,

It seems since you are related to the Kerr family it would be a conflict of interest. I would prefer to discuss this with someone who had my best interest in mind. I appreciate the offer but I will pass.

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$100.00 in suspense for 1 lot in 1 block? What’s the concern or bother.

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Do I recall you mentioned Brundage? If so isn’t that Dimmit county?

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No, that wasn’t me that mentioned Brundage, William and Todd this is not about money to me. My father died when he was 22 and my grandfather has passed as well. It is the only thing I have left of my father’s legacy. I am just looking for advice on how to proceed so I don’t lose the only legacy I have left of my family. I have no knowledge of oil or land and want to make sure I don’t make a mistake I will regret. I don’t know how to negotiate or what any of this means. All I know is I missed out on so much with my father and my granddaddy loved me and he purchased this land for a reason. I will try to look for more answer until I find one I feel comfortable with.

1 Like
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No problem. I understand.

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Misty_B, I feel your confusion and your pain, because two years ago out of the blue, a person identifying himself as a “Landman” contacted me and some siblings & cousins regarding purchasing our mineral rights in Colorado that were owned by my Aunt & Uncle. (They later moved to AZ). We’d known we had an Aunt with that name so it sounded legit. Anyway, the fellow started at $250.00 He eventually offered up to $1,000.00 to one of my cousins and sent some paperwork to release our "mineral rights "to us.

Last week, I was contacted by another distant relative I did not know who lived in Florida, and they told me there was going to be a lawsuit and did I want to participate? They had not sold, and instead did their “due diligence” hired an attorney in AZ (where my Aunt passed away) and found out that the “landman” had claimed the suspense funds that had been accruing since my Aunt had passed away, and the Attorney was planning to sue to get back the money. She said that it was quite a bit of money, but today when I got the court paperwork, I learned that the amount may have been approximately $900,000!

So, you might want to contact the oil company to see how much the suspense funds are, and if they are still extracting from that location before you do anything. I wish that I had.

A few questions I came on here to find out… . If anyone can answer them 1.) Are mineral rights deeded and recorded through a title company and therefore need to go through a title search before they can be legally transferred to make sure they can be conveyed free and clear? 2.) Does the term “Landman” represent a person who is licensed by the State, or can just about anyone “claim” to be a “landman” simply by tossing out that terminology in front of or after their name? (For instance, Lawyers , Real Estate Agents & Contractors must be licensed to practice in their State and are governed by strict ethics requirements, and need to be knowledgeable about their area of practice…or they could be sued.) 3.) If someone claiming to be a “Landman” gave an incomplete (as in false or even fraudulent) representation regarding the value of the “mineral rights” can the transfer be rescinded and the “suspense funds” be clawed back? Only this week did I learn that the land involved was 160 acres. Had he mentioned that, I would have taken a pause before selling. He also implied that I was conveying “future” mineral rights, and NEVER mentioned that there were any unclaimed “Suspense Funds” waiting for her heirs.

The Attorney has a good handle on this, and plans to sue the oil company for releasing funds to a person who was not an heir, and because the “so-called landman” did not represent the Estate as the Personal Representative. Also, he fraudulently misrepresented the value of the mineral rights.

I wish you luck Misty_B

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Perhaps you should ask the County Recorder in the county where this is located, to send you a title search or ask a Local Title Company in that County to provide a Preliminary Title Report that would show the chain of title.

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Try contacting the carrizo landman who contacted you. To some extent, he ran the chain of title to end up contacting you to lease your interest. Sometimes oil companies, when they see a conflict of title on small interests on the same land, will lease both interests to have it covered and then place sufficient royalty in suspense to cover the conflict and let the conflicted owners battle it out while the oil company produces onward.

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Thank you CID and DuckFlyer,

I originally attempted to contact the Landman from 2017 that reached out to me for Carrizo and his email is no longer valid and Carrizo apparently has been bought out by Callon.

One office lady I spoke to at Callon said there is less $100 in suspense and that the DO Analyst and Land Department she has reached out to for more details is not responding to her yet. It’s been weeks

I finally kept writing emails to Callon as no one is answering the phone lines due to the current crisis and I got another lady with more information in the Land Owner Relations department that said " We will assign your inquiry to an analyst to review your account and determine what is needed to release the suspense if it is indeed in suspense. Please be patient most Analyst are working remotely do to the COVID-19 and response times are delayed but you will be notified as soon as possible."

The thing Is I am less interested in the money and more interested in the chain of title and why it is in suspense. I will try to call LSalle County Title Records as I had a heck of a time on their website trying to figure it out. I will have another go at the website as well. I am simply trying to figure out what my best options are and if I do decide negotiating the release of the suspended funds.

I do realize it is only block 8 and not Block 9 so one block on a lot not much. But it is hard to know the best way to negotiate so it doesn’t negatively affect the only legacy I have of my father. I have heard too many horror stories. Especially when I have no knowledge of what could happen if I dont know enough to make a wise decision.

My situation is miniscule and more sentimental than others as it is only in 1 lot of 1 block in LaSalle County. But the importance of preserving a piece of my family’s history is very important to me. I need to make sure nothing nefarious is happening before I move forward.

Thank you for your thoughts and input,

Misty

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Send a letter with your questions. Usually works better than phone calls or emails.